This invention is directed to a process for making pant-like, personal care absorbent products having hook and loop fasteners on the side panels for ease of removal and donning without complete removal of a wearer""s clothing.
Pant-like absorbent garments, such as adult incontinence wear as well as infant and children""s diapers, swim wear and training pants, typically have adhesive fasteners on the sides for donning and removal, or else rely on the waist opening and leg openings to slide on and off the wearer. Adhesive fasteners wear out in as little as one use. Therefore, if a care giver checks the status of the wearer""s absorbent garment contents by unfastening an adhesive fastener, the garment often must be replaced due to a worn out adhesive fastener even if the absorbent garment itself is not in need of changing.
Absorbent garments that slide on and off a wearer are often messy when full. Furthermore, in order to remove such absorbent garments, the wearer""s clothing covering the absorbent garments, such as pants, must be completely removed. Checking the status of the wearer""s absorbent garment contents is often just as cumbersome as changing the absorbent garment.
There is a need or desire for a process for making pant-like, personal care absorbent garments that have refastenable side seams for ease of removal and donning without complete removal of a wearer""s clothing.
The present invention is directed to a process for making pant-like absorbent garments having hook and loop fasteners applied at the sides of the garments. The process is carried out on a plurality of garment assemblies in a cross direction.
In the process of the invention, a pair of fastening components is attached near planned distal edges of either two front side panels or two back side panels of each garment assembly. Adjacent garment assemblies are then separated by cutting between the fastening components between adjacent assemblies, from a waist opening to a leg opening. A mating fastening component is placed over two of the adjacent fastening components, thereby covering the separation space between adjacent assemblies and joining the side panels of the adjacent assemblies together again. The garment assemblies are then removed from the vacuum device, folded longitudinally, and bonded such that the mating fastening components are bonded to the side panels opposite the side panels to which the fastening components are bonded, in the separation space between adjacent fastening components. Adjacent back side panels are then cut through the bonded area, thereby severing the mating fastening components into two halves and separating adjacent garment assemblies from one another.
The resulting absorbent garments have a pair of refastenable lap side seams and a standing butt seam and can be easily fitted to and removed from a wearer without complete removal of a wearer""s clothing. The refastenable side seams extend from a waist opening to each of two leg openings between a front panel and a back panel. Each of the refastenable side seams includes a fastening component and a mating fastening component, each of which comprises either a hook material or a loop material. The refastenable side seams experience a shearing strain during use, as opposed to peel forces, thereby reducing the likelihood of the seams opening unexpectedly.
With the foregoing in mind, it is a feature and advantage of the invention to provide a process for making a pant-like absorbent garment that can be easily applied to and easily removed from a wearer without the need to entirely remove the wearer""s clothing.